Figure 2a shows that the three pairwise genetic correlations between our phenotypes, estimated using bivariate LD Score regression10, are substantial: −0.81 (SE = 0.046) between subjective well-being and depressive symptoms, −0.75 (SE = 0.034) between subjective well-being and neuroticism, and 0.75 (SE = 0.027) between depressive symptoms and neuroticism. Using height as a negative control, we also examined pairwise genetic correlations between each of our phenotypes and height and, as expected, found all three to be modest, e.g., 0.07 with subjective well-being (Supplementary Table 1). The high genetic correlations between subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism may suggest that the genetic influences on these phenotypes are predominantly related to processes common across the phenotypes, such as mood, rather than being phenotype-specific.
